It took me a while to think of my least favorite film; I tend to not store those as well in my head and focus more on the films I like. I would not call the film I chose my least favorite film, nor would I say I hated it, it is just something that happened to me and I was left very disappointed at the end of it all. I watched this movie on Netflix at 2:00 A.M. about a month ago, as a laugh, and two hours later I had somehow watched the entire thing. Without burying the lead any further, the film was Joshua Michael Stern’s “Jobs”, starring Ashton Kutcher.
I had very low expectations when I first started this movie, which in the past has allowed me to actual enjoy a movie I would have otherwise not been interested in, so it was even more so troubling that this movie left me feeling worse than I had already prepared myself to feel.
Steve Jobs lived a very fascinating life and his story is one of great struggle, pain, manipulation, terror, and sadness. Where this movie failed is in capturing any of those feelings, and instead of focusing on the personal journey and relationships that Steve Jobs had, it focused on hitting all of the major beats of his life. It was like watching the visual form of a college students essay on a historical figure; the movie had all the details, though this is debated because the producers did not consult with Jobs’ partner and co-founder of Apple, Steve Wozniak, but captured no real feeling of gravity.
One of the best examples of a recent popular figure in film is David Fincher’s “The Social Network”. Fincher honed in on a specific aspect and human flaw, the desire to be wanted and acknowledged by the world, and crafted that to Mark Zuckerberg. “The Social Network” isn’t about Facebook, it’s about what it represents and the sacrifice behind obtaining that goal. “Jobs” fails because it becomes about the historical plot points, not the ideas behind them.
All that being said, I did enjoy Ashton Kutcher’s portrayal of Steve Jobs; I feel that he really nailed his mannerisms and pattern of speech. It really is a shame that their was not a better script to bolster his performance with, maybe then I would have had one of those surprising moments.
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I really did not like this movie. In the beginning, I was hoping it would have a “Social Network” vibe to it like you said, but unfortunately the script was not good enough to let Ashton Kutcher’s mannerisms of Steve Job run wild. It was quite dry the entire time; even during intense moments. There was no depth to this film.
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Nice expression of the contrast between these films. I haven’t seen Jobs, but from your review, it sounds like it had no real guiding theme or idea to connect its series of events?
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